Past events

The Permanent Secretariat of SELA, jointly with the Latin American Centre of Administration for Development (CLAD), the Ibero-American School of Administration and Public Policies (EIAPP), CAF- Development Bank of Latin America, the Regional Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Latin America and the Caribbean (CLEAR-LAC) and the Centre for Research and Teaching of Economics (CIDE), will hold the “Regional Seminar: Introduction to the impact evaluation of public policies and programmes” in Mexico City, on 23, 24 and 25 August. This event aims to train participants in the management of the necessary tools for management, monitoring and evaluation of the impact of public policies and share experiences about the process of public policy making, in order to build capacities for the use of impact evaluations as a tool for accountability and as a tool for continuous improvement of public policies and programmes.

With the conduction of the II MEETING OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN LOGISTIC PORT COMMUNITIES, provided for in the Work Programme of SELA for the year 2017, this organization, with the cooperation of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, went a step forward towards the materialization of the Network of Digital and Collaborative Ports in Latin America and the Caribbean and responded to the approaches by participants of the first meeting. In addition, as a prelude to the conduction of the II MEETING, the FIRST SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM ON PORT LOGISTICS CHAINS was held on 26 July 2017. This event was organized by the Grupo de Apoyo Metodológico (GAM) of the port city of Cartagena and aimed to develop an open debate on the importance of networks in scientific regional port logistics collaboration and the dissemination of applied research projects in port logistics chains.

SELA will hold the “Training Workshop for MSMEs on continuity of business and operations vis-à-vis natural disasters”, together with Government of Belize, through the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service (BELTRAIDE), Export Belize and the Small Business Development Centre (SBDCBELIZE). This workshop aims to provide participants with a vision of the risks and vulnerabilities to which MSMEs and their suppliers of goods and services are exposed, and how an adverse event could affect the continuity of their business and operations; raise awareness about the need to adopt a methodology or guidelines for effective risk management in their business model, and to provide a strategy that facilitates the articulation and implementation of a programme on continuity of business and operations in case of disasters; and provide MSMEs with practical knowledge that allows them to apply the rules and standards for continuity of business and operations within their enterprises.

SELA will hold the “Workshop to support entrepreneurs in the protection of intellectual property rights: Protection of trademarks and patents from the perspective of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)”, together with the Ministry of Economy (MINECO) and the Intellectual Property Registry of Guatemala. This workshop aims to record the usefulness and importance of the protection of intellectual property rights, especially those rights associated with patents and trademarks, for the marketing of goods and services offered by MSMEs; identify the various methods by which the protection of intellectual property rights can increase the commercial value of MSMEs; link the holding of intellectual property rights by MSMEs with the procurement of funds; understand the relationship between the protection of intellectual property rights and export opportunities for MSMEs; and build the capacity of MSMEs to obtain and maintain intellectual property rights in internal and external markets.

The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), jointly with the National Institute of the Entrepreneur (INADEM) of the Secretariat of Economy of Mexico and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), will hold the “Workshop to launch the Public Policy Index for MSMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean (IPPALC): Pacific Alliance and South America” in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, on 15 and 16 May 2017. This workshop aims to: Provide a space to share national views within the framework of the adoption of the IPPALC. Optimize the procedural framework designed by the Permanent Secretariat for the successful implementation of the IPPALC. Review and validate the assessment questionnaires for each dimension of the IPPALC in accordance with the needs and characteristics of countries. Final Report

The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Peru and the University of the Pacific in Lima, is organizing the Regional Seminar “Analysis of economic, trade and cooperation relations of Latin America and the Caribbean with the Republic of Korea”, scheduled to take place on 9 and 10 May 2017 in Lima, Peru. The objective of this Regional Seminar is to analyze and promote the strengthening of economic and trade relations of Latin America and the Caribbean with the Republic of Korea, in order to conduct diagnoses, learn from experiences in public policies and explore different ways of mutual cooperation, as well as trade and investment.

Electronic commerce is becoming increasingly important in the volume of international transactions, and Latin America and the Caribbean is not exempt from this dynamic as it is one of the regions with the largest amount of Internet users in the world. Given this window of opportunity and in order to promote the institutionalization of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to close the digital gap in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA, together with UNCTAD, is organizing the online training course “Electronic commerce in practice as a tool to promote trade facilitation,” in order to train participants in the management of concepts and tools needed to conduct business using electronic commerce and ICT platforms. The course was developed on the platform of UNCTAD’s TrainForTrade Programme and will be taught in Spanish.

SELA held the “Regional Meeting on innovative mechanisms for financing and guarantees for MSMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean”, together with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) of the Dominican Republic. This event aimed to present the innovative mechanisms for financing and guarantees that has been used in Latin American and Caribbean countries to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and to follow up the agreements reached at the Central American and the Caribbean subregional meetings organized by the Permanent Secretariat and the Governments of Costa Rica and Jamaica during the year 2015, in order to assess the progress and feasibility of creating regional financing and guarantee systems for MSMEs.